Man sentenced for peddling Florida sharks online

November 14, 2013|By Wayne K. Roustan, Sun Sentinel

A San Francisco area man was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to violating wildlife conservation laws in Florida and committing wire fraud, according to U.S. Attorney Melinda Haag in California.

Dean Tuan Trinh, 44, of Milpitas, Calif., got five months of home detention and was ordered to pay a $10,000 fine and $14,400 in restitution for his involvement in the illegal catch and sale of Florida nurse sharks and California leopard sharks, prosecutors said.

Trinh pleaded guilty on Aug. 8, after admitting that he ran a wholesale fish business known as Aquatop USA, from 2009 through 2012, they said.

He advertised undersized nurse shark pups for sale on eBay and Craigslist, knowing that these sharks were harvested from Florida state waters out of season without the required licenses and permits. Trinh conspired with a Florida fisherman to obtain these sharks, court records stated.

He also used his boat called the "Shark Hunter" to fish for California leopard sharks in the San Francisco bay, knowing there was a lucrative market for sharks less than three-feet long, records showed.

Trinh was indicted by a federal grand jury in Florida on Nov. 1, 2012, and in California May 23, charged with conspiracy to violate the Lacey Act.